If you have questions about character generation, please post them here and I will build a FAQ as we go.

First place to start is your basic attributes, roll 4d100 until you get at least 2 of 56 or better (might seem odd but this is to ensure that PC's are a little better than average folks).
Decide which attribute you want to use for each of your dice rolls, you don't have to use them in the order you roll them.
Then roll your age and you now have the basics to think about your character back ground and starting skills.

Any players that were part of the first game who want to play again can generate a new character now if you want.

This question covers a few aspects of Skills that should help explain a few things...



So skills fall into several categories:

PSS (Primary Skill Sets), this would be the equivalent of your 'class' in D&D and includes the main Military, Science & Engineering Skills.

Miscellaneous Skills:  These are extra sub-skills for each PSS that expand on the Primary Skills and are cheaper than those suites to buy but are not necessary to start the game.  Players will not start with any of these skills but may acquire them as the game progresses.

Vocation Skills:  These skills are used to determine what a character did before joining the Army etc.  Each player has one of these skills.

Hobby Skills:  These extra skills are available for players to customize their character and flesh them out with a bit more detail.  Players may choose a total of two Hobby or Language skills.

Language Skills:  This is essentially your starting language plus any other languages you may have learned.  Literacy is also included as a separate skill as many people in this ear were not literate.  If a player chooses Literacy it must be in a language they can speak (usually the native language is English so Literacy would also be in English).

  So based on the questions above, if this were my character I would probably select Science as my PSS.  Medicine is a Science skill, so  Sarah should start with Medicine Lvl 1 as her first skill.  Characters start with 2 Primary Skills, the second can be from a different PSS so Sarah could take Melee Weapons Lvl 1 to reflect her interest in Fencing (Melee Weapons Skill covers all melee weapons and it is also a more expensive skill for a Science PSS to learn.)

  She would need to be literate, so that would be her Language Skill.  There is no 'athletics skill' so Running would be the best option there as a Hobby Skill.  There is no 'physician' skill, this would be covered by Medicine however Teacher would probably be a compatible Vocation skill but Sarah could choose from most of the available Vocation Skills.

Anyone home?

FYI: I am not ruling out wishing to play at some time in the future. It's just not a good time for me in the current months.

It's all good.
Previous players with existing characters will be able to continue with those characters when the timeline catches up.  In the mean time they are welcome to generate new characters.

I was wondering why none of the new players responded, my mistake I posted this thread in the wrong group :)  Everyone should be able to see this now.

Yep.

Okay, today was busy for me. I'll sit down and finish the character soon. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how work goes. Nice to meet everyone!

I've got some time! I read things over, and the only thing that feels a little wrong to me is that Sarah would have training in all melee weapons. I did some research for this character, and while I can definitely explain an English lady of the mid nineteenth century using foils, rapiers, and swords (Baptiste Bertrand founded his fencing school in 1856 and famously encouraged women to join the sport) I think it would be waste of a selection to give her the ability to also swing axes and polearms when the alternative is to take something like 'classical education' which is also something she definitely should have based on her background.

That's why I was kind of thinking it would be better situated as a hobby, than as a main skill.

What does advancement look like in this game? Is 'classical education' something I could pick up relatively early?

Having played in several similar games the exp gained by Characters IC suggests limiting skill diversity.

No game system is perfect, especially when trying to keep things simple and focus on role playing.

Classical Education is a skill that will be quite advanced and may not exist on the world of Valdennia, like many other skills the Yankees will bring with them (Engineering, Natural Science, Medicine).  If this is a skill you are interested in then you should begin the game with it, as there will be limited options to learn this skill from scratch once the game has begun.

Other skills like Melee and many Hobby or Vocation skills would be very easy to learn throughout the game.

The skill system works by characters earning X Points and then spend the X Points (and time, with a teacher) to acquire or improve skills.

Okay, so maybe we an say that she has an interest in foil fencing (useless on a battlefield), and at some point she can use that as a springboard to find someone to teach her how to fight with real swords.

I'll take classical education. Seems like a better way to give her more to do, make her more useful, and better reflect her upbringing/station in society prior to arriving.

OK makes sense, so Classical Education for your first skill.  Medicine for your second starting skill?

Yep! Leaning all the way into those intellectual skills :D

Cool, so now you get to choose a Hobby skill and  Vocational skill to round out your charcater

Okay... I think I have everything except equipment handled, including the description/background.

I feel the only getting 2 skills of your profession feels a little shallow. Maybe if choosing a basic 'class' unlocks all those skills the two free choices add diversity. Giving the option to diversify with two of the other professions or increase two profession skills a little higher. Dunno i now picked Melle in fovor of demolitions cause i didn't want to be caught with my pants down when the enemy gets too close.

Players can diversify and learn skills from other Primary Skill Sets but skills from you chosen skill set are cheaper.

Yeah thats when xp is given right. Or am i missing any starting xp?

Beginner players only have two level 1 Primary Skills to start with.

Of your initial two skills one must be from your PSS, your second can be from any PSS.

For example: an infantryman might choose Musketry, Rifles as his first skill but then choose and Engineering or Science skill as his second skill because this is a free skill at start up.  He might choose Medicine so that he can be a combat medic with all the basic sub-skills but no real intention to spend more X Points on the skill later.  As a Military PSS player, learning a 1st level Military skill costs 3 X Points but learning a 1st level Engineering skill would cost 8 X Points and Medicine would cost 10 X Points

Whats whit skills you don't have?

As the game is said to have a main combat focus i am quite certain i wont be having my cannon/mortar on me all the time so took a backup melee skill. I could aim for a combat engineer idea but feared it would leave me too vurnable.

Hum
This message was last edited by the player at 14:28, Sat 10 Feb.

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question... but are we meant to RP in the journals? Like a normal story thread? Or are we meant to write in them as if they were journal entries?

Not a stupid question I should have explained better, RP as a normal story thread.

I called the solo threads 'Journals' to differentiate them from shared story threads which will be 'Chapters'.

Also the convention for posts in my games is:

(IC)
For In Character role play, "I also add colours for spoken words."

(OOC)
Out Of Character for game mechanics like dice rolls etc I usually add at the bottom of a post in different colour.

OK folks it looks like we have three characters almost finished and I expect another player to come on board in a couple of weeks so I will update your solo threads in the next day or two and start a common thread to introduce everyone.  Welcome aboard.

Huzzah!

Glad to be aboard

Thanks to CaptainHellrazor's tollerance & patience, me too,
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Sun 18 Feb.

I spent way more time than I thought I would this morning researching popular fiction and science books published before 1864

Sarah is now decently stocked. Though I'm sure it won't be enough.